It’s Gonna Be Worth It

Well, this morning I stand convicted. I have allowed myself to slip back into a self-pity and borderline depression. Financial pressures have thrown me for a loop and all I have done for the past week or two is whine. Then this morning as I read Revelation 15, I was cut to the bone and convicted about my attitude. The verse 2 says, …those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of GOD in their hands. (3) And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of GOD, and the song of THE LAMB, saying “Great and amazing are YOUR deeds, O LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! Just and true are YOUR ways O KING OF THE NATIONS!…’

So what is the big deal about people in heaven worshipping GOD? Isn’t that what people do in heaven? Especially since they had conquered the beast, right? Then I realized conquered the beast didn’t mean they had a spectacular battle were GOD intervened at the last moment and smote the beast and then the saints got to go to a coronation ceremony and live happily ever after… Conquoring the beast means they did not bow down and accept the number and were subsequently tortured and killed. That is how they got to heaven…

Suddenly I am reminded how small and petty I am. I am whining about not getting to buy what I want to or go out as much as I would like. But I am not in danger of torture or having my head cut off. If those who were tortured and killed can worship the LORD, why can’t I? I know they are already there and seeing glory but I sing and preach and write all the time that I believe in God and in heaven, so why don’t I believe enough to believe all the pain in this world will be worth it when we see HIM? Every time something gets had, I whine and cry and act like there is no future and no glory. My lips say there is a heaven but my attitude says there isn’t. LORD, help me. Give me strength to live out my theology; to live out my faith…

Effective and Fruitful

For many years I have taught that there are two reasons for our existence. More specifically, there is a reason for our existence and a reason that we continue to live on this earth. We exist to know and love YOU, LORD. But we are still here on earth to lead others toward knowing YOU. If the only purpose was to know YOU, why don’t we immediately go to be with YOU when we get saved? Why leave us here? As I was reading 2 Pet 1:8 today, I saw these two parts or purposes clearly. Peter tells us, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter is saying that there is still a reason for us to be here once we know YOU. While we are still here, we are expected to be effective and fruitful.

So what kind of fruit are we to bear? Is Peter talking about spiritual fruit? No, he just listed the qualities we normally associate with spiritual fruit (Vv. 5-7) and told us that those qualities are to keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful. So this fruit must be leading more people toward YOU. Once we come to know YOU, it is no longer just about YOU and us. It is about YOU, us, and everyone else.

Of course to lead others toward knowing YOU, we must develop the qualities that Peter listed. We need faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (Vv. 5-7). If we focus on knowing You. Your Holy Spirit will produce these qualities in us. And the natural outgrowth of knowing You and growing in these qualities is bearing fruit, leading others toward YOU. Lord, I want to fulfill both my purposes. I want to be effective and fruitful.

Believing For Dead Stuff

Faith is an interesting thing. The moment we have what we had faith for, it is no longer faith. It does not take faith to call God our provider when we do not have any unpaid bills. It does not take faith to call Him our healer when we are healthy. It takes faith to rely on God when things do not appear to be under control. In Heb. 11:19 it says that Abraham had faith when he offered up Isaac because “he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead…” In other words, Abraham had faith when circumstances seemed to be going against the promise and vision that God had put in his heart. He had faith that even if the vision died, God could raise it back from the dead. Faith is believing that even if it looks like everything is falling apart, God is still in control and there is nothing, not even death, that can put the final nail in the coffin of His promises for His people. I have had some promises and visions that seem to have died but I believe that God can raise them from the dead. Again I am haunted by the words of Erwin McManus who said, “If the cross teaches us anything, it teaches us that sometimes God comes through after we’ve been killed.”

Lord, give me the kind of faith to believe even when everything seems to be dead. Nothing, not even death, can make things too hard for YOU. I trust that YOU are in control even when I can’t see it.

Differing Definitions

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when God says something, it does not quiet mean what we think it means? Many times God uses certain words and we assume they mean what we want them to mean instead of finding out what HE means. A great example is when Paul tells us that God will supply all our needs… Most of the time I my definition of need is very different from God’s. I would save myself much consternation if I accepted HIS definition instead of trying to redefine the word to mean what I want it to mean.

There is another powerful example of these different definitions found in Hebrew 5:17, In the days of HIS flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to HIM WHO was able to save HIM from death, and HE was heard because of HIS reverence. Now, usually when I hear that God heard my prayer, I think it means HE will do what I want HIM to do. Read the verse again and you will notice that that is not what God means when HE says He hears our prayers. Jesus was crying out to the ONE WHO could save HIM from death. HE was heard: He still died… The fact that GOD hears us doesn’t mean we will get what we want. And if we don’t get what we want, it isn’t because HE is upset with us. HE was pleased with Jesus but HE still had to die. Faith is believing that GOD has heard my cry and is in control: It is not believing that my cosmic jeanie god will do whatever I demand. HE may hear our cry, be pleased with us, and still not do what we want. Again, I can save myself much heartache by allowing GOD to mean what HE says instead of always trying to make what HE says mean what I want it to mean.

Patient Enough to Hear God

Very often I get frustrated with trying to hear the voice of God. Each day I pray and I try to quiet my spirit and listen to what HE is saying. Often, I hear little truths that excite my spirit and bring joy and peace. Many of these truths are typed in this blog. But, I don’t often hear “the big one.” We all want to hear the big one. Something like, “I created you to do…” “Go to… and do…” etc… (I know, that was a lot of … s for one run on sentence…). I want the shaking room, the audible voice, the burning bush but it doesn’t seem to happen.

Then the other day I was reading the story of the burning bush and noticed a few things. The first thing that was that the burning bush didn’t happen to Moses every day either. Many times I think that the people in the Bible experienced miracles and the audible voice of God all the time. After all, that is what happens in all the stories so it should be happening in my life all the time, right? The problem with this thinking is that the Bible records the highlights. It would be really boring if Moses recorded his diary everyday. ‘Got up today. It was hot. The sheep stink. Think I will lead them toward that funny looking rock in the east today…’ I often forget that that little piece of thin paper I can see through and where the ink from my marker bleeds through
represents 40 years of Moses’ life that was a lot more like mine than like the day the bush caught fire.For 40 years there was nothing worth writing about in his life!!! For 40 years he lived in the desert and worked for his father-in-law. He didn’t even own his own sheep. For 40 years he knew he was called to be the deliverer of Israel but was light years away from being that. But he kept getting up and doing what God gave him to do even though he probably hated doing it. Could I be patient enough to do what God has given me to do for 40 years without understanding the point or seeing the hope for the future? I know I can’t. That is the sad part. It was only after another boring, long, hot day of doing nothing of significance that Moses heard God’s voice.

A big part of the problem is that God is outside of time and I am not. HE stands outside of the timeline and sees the whole thing at once. HE sees my yesterday, now, and tomorrow all at once. So when I am whining about not seeing how today can amount to anything, HE stand there and says, “I see the answer. Just hang on a minute, it is coming.” Therein lies another problem for me. God can say, “wait a minute” but HIS minutes are much longer than mine. The Bible says to HIM a day is like thousand years and a thousand years like a day. So an hour to God is 41 years and 4 months to me (I am not being literal here, only illustrating that time is different to God). HIS minute is like 251 days and 21 hours to me. A second is 4 days and 4 hours. If I could get this deep down in my spirit, I could be patient enough to hear God speak to me.

Alas, most of the time I am not patient enough. I cry out because from my perspective things will never change. That points out another problem with my puny little brain. I tend to look at things and extrapolate the worst possible outcome. God looks at things and projects the best possible outcome. HIS outcome will be better than I could ever think or ask if I could just be patient enough to hear HIM. After all, faith and fear are two sides of the same coin. They both project our vision of the future. Fear projects the worst, faith projects the best. I am called to look in faith. Not faith that the circumstances will work out how I think they should but faith in the ONE WHO stands outside of time and sees how HE will work things out for my good. In other words, faith is not nagging God into doing something but holding on to the God Who is doing something.

This all hinges on the question of whether or not I can hold on long enough to hear God speak and see God work. I often say, “I can’t take it any longer.” When I say that, I might as well say, “God You are a liar.” The Bible says that HE will not allow me to be tempted/tested beyond that which I can handle. So, if HE leaves me in it, I must be able to handle it. HE has more faith in me than I do.

Lord, give me the strength to hold on. YOU are the key to all of this. If I know YOU are there, I can go through anything. If I know YOU are in control, I can trust that YOU will work things out for my good, whatever that might look like.